Archive for December 1, 2016

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New York - An engineer who fell asleep at the controls of a Metro-North train and caused a derailment that killed four people in New York City sued the railroad Thursday, saying its negligence and carelessness led to the accident.
William Rockefeller is seeking $10 million in the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, saying he suffers from multiple injuries, including post-traumatic stress...

Chicago - Murders in Chicago have already topped 700 this year, police said on Thursday, as a surge in violence in the third largest U.S. city has sent the number of killings to its highest point in nearly two decades.
There were 77 murders in November, according to the Chicago Police Department, bringing the number of murders to 701 for the year to date.
Murders have surged 55 percent...

Detroit - Toyota plans to reveal a new version of America's top-selling sedan next month at a time when U.S. buyers are moving away from cars toward SUVs and trucks.
The Japanese automaker said Thursday that it would show off the 2018 Camry at Detroit's North American International Auto Show in January. It is likely to arrive in showrooms late next summer.
Toyota gave few details about the...

New York - A Fire Department of New York mechanic who has saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars through his ingenuity has been honored.
Jomar Pichardo's job is to keep the city's fleet of Emergency Medical Services ambulances running while working out of the fire department's garage in the Long Island City section of Queens.
The fire department says he's saved it more than...

Johannesburg - Nigeria's Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka has torn up his United States green card and renounced his American residency in protest at Donald Trump's U.S. election win, the writer told news channel eNCA on Thursday.
"I've done it," said Soyinka, 82, when asked if he had followed through on an earlier vow to leave the United States if Trump triumphed in the race for the...

Toledo, Ohio - A self-driving big rig is rolling down the Ohio Turnpike for the first time.
The debut of the self-driving truck on Thursday is part of Ohio's $15 million investment in advanced self-driving highway technology.
State officials say the turnpike is a good place to start the testing because it's a relatively straight and flat route with wide lane markings.
Turnpike officials...

Philadelphia - A package that blew up when a man opened it contained a homemade explosive, and police have video of the person who dropped it off, authorities said Thursday.
Police Commissioner Richard Ross cautioned that the person in the video might not necessarily be the one who manufactured the device that exploded when 60-year-old James Alden opened it Nov. 22 at his home in the city's...

Washington - American consumers and businesses would pay — literally — if President-elect Donald Trump followed through on his campaign pledge to slap big taxes on imports from China and Mexico.
Trump said during the campaign that he'd impose tariffs of 35 percent on Mexican imports and 45 percent on Chinese imports to protect American jobs from unfair foreign competition. Companies that...

Denver - Democratic members of the electoral college trying to stop Donald Trump from becoming president are raising money off their efforts.
A quartet of electors from Colorado and Washington have dubbed themselves the "Hamilton Electors" and are trying to convince electors from both parties to unite behind another Republican because Donald Trump is unfit to be president.
The electors...

Washington - The Senate moved decisively Thursday to renew a decades-old sanctions law that lawmakers said gives the United States the clout to punish Iran should it fail to live up to the terms of the landmark nuclear deal.
Senators passed the bill unanimously, 99-0, two weeks after the House also approved the legislation by an overwhelming margin of 419-1.
The bill to grant a 10-year...

Cairo - Islamic state has told its members to stop using internet-based communication apps like WhatsApp and Telegram on smartphones, suspecting they are being used by the U.S.-led coalition to track and kill its commanders.
Until recently, the hardline group used such apps to chat with members and supporters outside its main areas of control in Syria, Iraq and Libya -- including, say French...

New York - A former top adviser for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (KWOH'-moh) and seven other people have pleaded not guilty in their federal corruption case.
Joseph Percoco and his co-defendants appeared Thursday in federal court. A November indictment alleges bid-rigging and bribery.
Percoco is from South Salem and was Cuomo's executive deputy secretary and one of his most loyal...

New York - It has proven one of Donald Trump's greatest strengths in building a worldwide luxury brand: An obsessive attention to detail, down to the curtains hanging in hotel rooms and the marble lining the lobby floor.
As president, it may prove one of his major liabilities, presidential historians warn.
Interviews with a dozen people familiar with how Trump conducts business reveal the...

Paris - French President Francois Hollande announced Thursday that he would not seek a second term in next year's presidential election, saying he hoped to give his Socialist party a chance to win "against conservatism and extremism" by stepping aside.
"I have decided not to be a candidate in the presidential election," Hollande said in a somber address on French television that recapped his...

Washington - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate retired General James Mattis to lead the Pentagon, two media outlets reported on Thursday, but a Trump spokesman said no decision had been made.
The Washington Post said Trump had chosen Mattis and that an announcement was likely to be made early next week. CNN also reported that Trump had settled on Mattis. Reuters could not...